Possible Gustnado Damages 10 Homes in Western Japan

A strong wind was seen in Shimane Prefecture western Japan just prior to sunrise Wednesday morning. At least 10 buildings were damaged including a grocery store where footage of the event was captured.

Damage from Gusty Wind

No convective storms are seen on radar at the time of the event but security camera footage does show what appears to be a sudden increase in winds and then calming down. Watch the video here.

What this likely indicates is a possible gustnado which can occur in non-convective storms or a cold air funnel. All night there was no high winds reported outside of a short report about the same time of a gust up to 17kts. That is far shy of winds to cause damage but it could have been apart of a gust front that created a vorticy over the area.